Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Weeds in name only

Rise above
Lucan, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


The world is burning and all I’ve got is a picture of a tree surrounded by weeds.

Photography as escape. It’s a thing, apparently.

#lucan #ontario #canada #tree #sky #yellow #dandelion #bokeh #dof #tiltshift #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Monday, June 16, 2025

Reflecting roadside with my bike

Because we still can...
London, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Whatever you do, just ride.

I realize how lucky I am to still be able to do this, so every once in a while I’ll coast to a stop and engage in a little roadside photography.

It isn’t because the photos are particularly frame-worthy, but because I just want to remember the moment.

Because to me, cycling is freedom. It’s also my tiny little message to the universe that it didn’t win this time.

I did. So I ride.

I hope you can, too.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sunningdale #cycling #orange #TangerineDream #bicycle #shadow #selfie #instabike #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Further... April 2025
Shadowy cyclist, October 2024
On-the-road selfie, October 2022

Sunday, June 15, 2025

One memorable tree

The Scooby Gang would be proud
London, ON
April 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


There’s a tree at the edge of the woods, at the bottom of a hill, that I’ve come to call the Tic Tac Toe Tree.

I first came across it a few years back while hiking through the valley. It was mid-winter, so it was covered in snow, and of all the snow-covered trees I happened across on that cold, grey morning, this was the one that I hovered over for entirely too long.

On every subsequent forest walk, I’d make a point of stretching my route just far enough so that I could return to this tree. In April, I captured this image just before the leaves grew in, and I’m thinking now would be a good time to head back for an update.

I can’t explain why this tree has become so resonant to me, or why none of the countless other trees nearby has become nearly as embedded in my brain. We’re creatures of habit, I suppose, and over time each of us seems to accumulate our own unique collections of things and experiences that bring us comfort.

Planet Earth is hardly a place of comfort these days. So I seek out a single tree in the forest for an occasional moment of quiet familiarity before climbing back out of the valley and into the real world.

It isn’t much of a coping strategy, but it’s what seems to be working for now.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #forest #tictactoe #tree #naturephotography #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:

Saturday, June 14, 2025

It's Stroke Month. Would you know what to do?

Where it all began
Middlesex Centre, ON
August 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Dear friends,

Did you know that it’s Stroke Month in Canada?

Did you also know that I had one? On a sunny summer afternoon almost 12 years ago, I turned my head the wrong way while riding my bike and accidentally tore my left carotid artery. A few hours later, clots from the injury broke free and migrated into my brain, touching off a stroke that paralyzed me on my right side and zapped my ability to speak.

Thanks to my wife who recognized the signs, I got the help I needed and was able to make an almost full recovery. I’m lucky in ways so many other stroke victims are not.

So I’m once again working with the Heart and Stroke Foundation to raise stroke awareness, primarily by sharing my story with my media partners.

While I usually talk tech with them, this month I’m sharing my experience in the hope that others will learn from it - and hopefully take the time to learn the signs and have important conversations with friends and family. 39% of Canadians, for example, don’t know what FAST is. That needs to change.

So I’ll be joining #CBCRadio programs across the country this weekend, and will continue to share links to interviews with my full range of media peeps in the days and weeks to come. In the meantime, please visit heartandstroke.ca to learn more.

Thank you,

Carmi

Related:
START HERE: So, about that stroke - August 2014
#3: More stroke stuff... - August 2014
Stroke survivor shares his story, London Free Press, Aug 14, 2014
Coming up on Canada AM - Lookahead to February 2015 interview
Winding down the day that was - February 2015 - incl link to Canada AM/Heart/Stroke Month segment
Two years on... - August 2015
Three bonus years - August 2016
Four years later - August 2017
Five years on - August 2018
Seven years on, August 2020
Eight years on, August 2021
Nine years on... August 2022
Ten years on... August 2023
11 years on... August 2024

Friday, June 13, 2025

Appreciating the small brick house

Not just a house. Home.
Barrie, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Have you ever stopped for some now-forgotten reason on some now-forgotten street in the middle of a town far from home and been fascinated by the neat little brick house across the street?

Curiosity is a funny thing. It compels us to look both for and at things we’ve never before seen, and to appreciate beauty in ways that didn’t occur to us when we first awoke that day.

I hope you’re able to see new things in new ways today, no matter how far from home you may find yourself.

#barrie #ontario #canada #brick #home #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #roadtrip #streetphotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
This old house, September 2013
Caption This 109, February 2009

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Graduation, unlocked

So proud of him...
London, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Noah’s middle names might be Mayer and Gideon, but I’ll humbly suggest we add tenacity to the list.

That’s how he navigated his undergrad, and we are beyond proud not only of what he accomplished in making it to the convocation stage today, but in how he conducted himself along the way.

Parenthood isn’t always easy or linear. But with a kid like him, it’s easy to appreciate how rewarding the journey can ultimately be.

Way to go, kiddo. We can’t wait to see what your next chapter brings.

#uwo #western #university #graduate #family #everything

Related:

Coffee under a morning sun

Ready to start the day
Dryden, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


I’m pretty sure coffee and I have largely broken up, but that doesn’t mean I can’t steal the occasional weird view of someone else’s mug.

There’s wonder all around, after all. Even at a breakfast table far from home.

#dryden #ontario #canada #tikkunolam #coffee #mug #shadow #texture #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

When skyscrapers meet

Perspective matters
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Skyscrapers don’t just reach for the sky.

I’d like to think they also congregate with each other, the whispering winds picking up and sharing the stories of the countless souls who work in, pass by, and stare up at them.

Maybe they’re just buildings. Maybe they’re something more.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #royalbankplaza #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #downtown #geometry #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Monday, June 09, 2025

When trees lean

Together
Upsala, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


In the middle of a long drive across the heart of the greatest country on Earth, we stop for a break under sunny skies.

While the rest of our crew does what they need to do, I wander across the dusty parking lot toward the two-lane highway. I want to remember this place that everyone else tends to forget, but I’m not quite sure how.

The Trans-Canada Highway runs parallel to the railway that first built this nation, the thick forests looming over trains and cars alike as they have for well over a century.

I notice the trees lean ever so slightly, a compensation, of sorts, for the prevailing winds that blow across the land. I smile at the notion of unseen forces shaping the landscape so subtly over the course of decades and centuries, and realize the photo I had wanted to take was staring at me through the lens all along.

Soon enough, we resume our journey and put this isolated crossroads behind us, leaving the whispering winds to quietly continue their important work.

#upsala #ontario #canada #transcanada #highway #rail #trees #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Sunday, June 08, 2025

Colourful crackers on dirty ground

Recycled, not lost
Kenora, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Don’t cry because you dropped some crackers on the dirty ground.

Smile because they left random remnants of colour in their wake.

Or because the birds and the squirrels got an unexpected snack.

Or because you had some crackers to begin with.

Or maybe all three.

Or maybe this has nothing to do with crackers at all.

#kenora #ontario #canada #goldfish #crackers #colour #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Saturday, June 07, 2025

We'll cross that bridge...

Cable-stayed goodness
Nipigon, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


The Nipigon River Bridge crosses the Nipigon River, which connects to Lake Nipigon, itself not far from the township of, you guessed it, Nipigon. Such imagination, no?

Naming aside, it’s a striking piece of engineering along the Trans-Canada Highway that alternates between mind numbing sameness - So. Many. Trees. - and flashes of stunning geological formations that would be at home in National Geographic.

So when my GPS app said we were approaching the bridge, I thought it would be fun to try to snag a photo from my third-row seat at the back of the minivan. As luck would have it, the only camera close by was my iPhone. And the window I’d be shooting through was covered with forest fire particulate.

And yet, it sorta worked. I think.

I share this not because the geometric photo is especially lovely. This will not become a poster. But anyone who’s hung around my feed long enough knows that’s not how I define photographic success.

A great picture freezes a moment in time. It reflects the lives we lead. It can often be a blurry, scratch-covered mess of random lines and unplanned composition - again, just like the lives it reflects.

That’s what this photo is to me. Not remotely technically perfect, but perfect in its reflection of the journey we were on, the tiny circle of family who shared the experience, and the memories we were making as we criss-crossed the country.

It wasn’t planned or methodically composed. It’s an image that was grabbed quickly, in the moment, before it slipped just as quickly into the past.

In that sense, photography is little more than a mirror of the life it tries to reflect. As the bridge fades into the rearview, I hold my breath and hope I’ve managed to pull it off.

#nipigon #ontario #canada #bridge #roadtrip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #transcanada #highway #speed #geometry #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Friday, June 06, 2025

They make pizzas in Sudbury

Do it for the dough
Lively, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


We’re just back from an epic road trip with the fam, and to no one’s surprise, photos were taken. Many photos, in fact.

Part of me wants to tell the story of the places, people, experiences, even moments. But another part of me derives a weird sense of comfort from the photographic process when I’m far from home.

As much as I enjoy travel, I’ll admit being on the road sometimes intimidates me. I crave routine, which can be difficult to have when you’re on the move and/or living out of a highly overstuffed suitcase.

So when we encounter a particularly colourful group of ladies who make pizza in an old school pizza joint in a place called Lively, I take a timeout from the journey and pull out the camera.

After they step outside for a break, their empty workplace sits behind glass, waiting for the next wave of pies to be made. It feels like a reasonable marker of this part of the journey, a visual signature of sorts of a small town far from home.

In the end we are little more than the sum total of the choices we make and the experiences we craft along the way.

So we tell tiny stories in between here and there, reminders that life is best experienced when we wander just this far outside our comfort zone and see things we wouldn’t otherwise see.

The pizza is a welcome bonus.

#sudbury #lively #ontario #canada #roadtrip #travel #travelphotography #toppers #pizza #restaurant #stilllife #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Thursday, June 05, 2025

Nap like a dog

How may I help you?
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


She looks like I feel right about now.

Maybe we could all use a little more nap time.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callitheschnauzer #dog #actofdog #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Wednesday, June 04, 2025

Watching the train from above

Choo!
London, ON
April 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


The rules of life should be simpler than they are. Perhaps one of them should be to wave at trains as they pass by.

What other rules of life should we add to the list?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #hydepark #cprail #rail #stainless #steel #train #track #perspective #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Tuesday, June 03, 2025

The silhouetted tree

Canopy, for now
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


It’s 8:29 p.m. on an early spring night. I’m following the dog around the neighbourhood on her final walk of the day, and we’re both enjoying the slowly fading light.

Well, I’m assuming both of us are enjoying it. Calli the Wonderschnauzer can’t exactly say so in words, but her jaunty bounce at the other end of her leash suggests she’s a happy camper.

While waiting for her to sniff some grass, I catch a glimpse of this tree against the clear sky. I flippantly call them visions, moments where I see something and think it’s worth a photo. This happens to me more often than I dare admit.

On this night, this particular tree under this particular light feels somewhat Disney-esque. I can’t quite describe it, but it feels like a signature moment in one of their formulaic movies where the camera lingers on an iconic scene as epic music swells, um, epically throughout the theatre.

The dog is really going to town on the tree trunk, so I have lots of time to pull the smartphone out and capture a single frame. It won’t show up in any Disney movie anytime soon. Or any movie, for that matter. But I’ll remember the moment all the same.

And to think it all started with a silly tree. Maybe nothing is truly silly after all.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #tree #sky #silhouette #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Monday, June 02, 2025

3 years of Lilly

Focused
Dryden, ON
June 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


This is Lilly at 3.

A force of nature whose impact defies the brief time she’s been around.

An endless source of energy who could seemingly power the planet if given the chance.

A kind soul who looks out for others.

An old soul who speaks and acts in ways well beyond her years.

A funny banana who laughs from her belly.

A fierce protector of her little sister.

A spark of life who brightens any room she’s in.

A tiny ball of limitless potential whose story is just getting started.

#family #everything

Sunday, June 01, 2025

Dead or alive?

Please...
London, ON
June 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram


We play this game every spring: Will the leaves return?

While most trees and bushes tend to come back from their winter’s rest, not all do.

This photo was taken in June of last year, long after this small-ish tree in a hushed riverside clearing should have sprouted new buds and leaves. And for reasons that I still don’t fully understand, I felt the need to quietly remember the moment.

Because today it’s a tree. Tomorrow, it’s something, or someone, else. And everyone deserves to be remembered in some way.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medway #dead #tree #landscapephotography #naturephotography #stilllife #texture #bokeh #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Monochrome curtain wall perspective

Where's my ruler?
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


I’ve been staring up at buildings rather often lately, so please accept my apologies for the architecture jag in my feed.

I grew up with this notion that every window represented an individual’s story, but now I realize this truth is an incomplete one.

Because even if we can see through the glass, we’ll never know the full and complete story of that person’s life.

So trying to draw conclusions based on what we can see from the outside in seems like a bit of a fool’s game.

So we won’t.

Maybe it’s simply good enough to take in the view and leave sidewalk judgments out of the equation.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #torontodominioncentre #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #downtown #geometry #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Friday, May 30, 2025

The river always wins

Erosion, visibly
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram
 
There’s a show going on in the nearby river.

Quietly, relentlessly, the current has been oh so gradually wearing these rocks down for longer than any of us has been alive.

And today, the water levels have dropped just enough to allow the river to show us its handiwork.

I imagine the stories these gently contoured rocks could tell. Of an ultimately futile fight against the elements. Of the power of staying the course no matter how long it takes.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #uwo #thamesriver #rocks #reflective #elbowsup #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Reflecting the skyline

Looking over your shoulder
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Mirror mirror on the (curtain) walll.

Who’s the tallest one of all?

#toronto #ontario #canada #throwback #yonge #yyz #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #downtown #geometry #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

The cathedral gets a new coat of green paint

Protected once again
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


The last time we were here, the branches were bare.

It took barely a couple of weeks for invisible magicians to paint the landscape green and give us protection from the elements.

Wondrous, isn’t it?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medwayvalley #forest #trees #cathedral #green #canopy #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Too many tomatoes to count

Sauce time
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


You may be wondering why today’s photo is of a large-ish collection of roma tomatoes.

It seems silly, even pointless, after all. Maybe even the kind of scene that doesn’t merit attention or pixels in the first place.

Once upon a time that’s what I might have believed. But no longer.

See, there’s no shortage of seriousness in today’s universe. Headlines scream loud enough to be heard above the others, each one more ominous than the last. A simple photowalk reveals new homeless encampments spilling out of the forest. Worry creeps in amid the quiet of night.

So we take silly, pointless photos of stupid, pointless subjects. Because the smiles they spark - or even the quiet moment away from the seriousness of the real world - are anything but silly or pointless.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #grocery #store #shopping #retail #roma #italian #plum #tomatoes #vegetables #stilllife #photography #fruitography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Monday, May 26, 2025

Lost sandals

Must be a story here
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Under a late evening sun in a nearly empty parking lot, a pair of flip flops straddles the yellow line, the owner nowhere to be seen.

How they got here is a mystery, as is the story of who once wore them, or how they made it home safely without proper footwear.

The scene is a stark reminder of how little we ever really know about the lives of others.

I silently wish a peaceful journey to a complete stranger, hoping against hope that something as intangible as a silent wish can make any difference at all.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sobeys #shoes #shadow #stilllife #streetphotography #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Sunday, May 25, 2025

Toronto from afar

Wrong camera, right moment
Toronto, ON (from Mississauga)
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Under a threatening late afternoon sky, countless residents of the big city go about their daily lives.

Not one them is visible in this photo, but they’re all there. We just have to use our imaginations a little.

So I stand on a giant rock amid the softly lapping waves and wonder about all the stories and lives and moments silently playing out within this single frame.

I can’t hear any of them from here. But someone does. And I hope they like what they see and hear. Because every story deserves an audience, every author of it a corresponding muse.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #cntower #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #skyline #photography #apple #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone


Saturday, May 24, 2025

Publish Day - Donald Trump fails Economics 101

Source: ChatGPT
So Donald Trump has put Big Tech companies like Apple and Samsung on blast, threatening them with 25% tariffs if they don't shift smartphone production to the U.S.

Is all this little more than a hissy fit thrown by a president whose economic intelligence couldn't power a potato clock? Of course. But as is always the case with this administration, there's more to the story.

My latest piece is here:


Related:

A moment under the lamp

Always look up
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


A lifetime ago, my wife and kids and I found ourselves in a hotel far from home. We were on vacation, and a plain-looking floor lamp next to the window captured my attention.

So before long I found myself, camera in hand, lying on the floor, looking up, trying to capture an angle that, frankly, made no sense at all.

The kids laughed. My wife smiled. And after a few minutes, I got the shot and we all continued on with our day in a wondrously strange place.

Fast forward to modern times, and we once again found ourselves in a hotel room far from home with two of our now-adult children and their significant others.

Once again there was a floor lamp by the window. Once again I felt the need to view it from a nonsensical perspective. Once again laughs were heard, smiles were seen, and explanations were shared with the new members of our family.

Memories are fascinating things. They connect us to who we were and who we are. They also connect us to the ones who matter most.

Maybe this is a photo. Maybe it’s much more than that.

#toronto #ontario #canada #roadtrip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #hotel #lamp #light #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Let there be light, December 2009
My daughter's light, February 2008
Light from below, January 2008

Friday, May 23, 2025

Small signs of life in a dead mall

Under the glass menagerie
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Not so long ago, this shopping mall was crowded with shoppers, bags hanging from their arms as they moved, herd-like, from store to store in search of whatever might scratch that endless retail itch.

This onetime Mecca of conspicuous consumption was a beacon for the community that both surrounded and sustained it, a commercial analog for the town squares where we once gathered and the main street and downtown strips where we once transacted.

Today, this is all that remains. The gap-toothed first floor is home to a few scattered stores, the rest already shuttered up or converted into community rooms and city-run offices. The second floor is all office space, its sterile concourse overrun by mall walkers who ignore the single uniformed woman pushing a mop in endless counter-clockwise trips around the polished mezzanine.

The shoppers have largely disappeared, now buying from apps and touchscreens and waiting for the results to show up at their door. The sleek monstrosities still cast shadows over the communities they once served, the sounds of the few stragglers who remain still echoing through their glass-framed, marble-fronted halls.

I guess conspicuous consumption just isn’t as conspicuous anymore. I guess nothing lasts forever.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #shopping #mall #perspective #westmountmall #retail #glass #design #public #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Deli meat under glass, January 2024
Bust the glass ceiling, December 2010

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Dog therapy

Yes, I'm loved
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


The solution for a difficult day is fairly simple, and Calli the Wonderschnauzer is happy to offer her services to anyone with treats in their pocket.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callitheschnauzer #dog #actofdog #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
No joke. Dog. April 2024
Go on, I dare you, March 2025
Random dog photo time, October 2024
Helper dog, August 2024
That Schnauzer stare, December 2023

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

When Yonge Street is home

Don't look away
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Not every picture is a pretty one.

Not every life plays out as planned.

Not every problem has a simple solution.

Not everything is fair.

#toronto #ontario #canada #urban #downtown #city #homelessness #yonge #streetphotography #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Talking about cancon and streaming on the CBC

A federal court judge has ruled that Netflix, Disney+, and other big American streaming platforms won’t have to pay - yet - into a Canadian content fund. I’ll be joining CBC Radio stations across the country tomorrow from 6-9am to explain how the very future of Canada’s cultural industries hangs in the balance.

#crtc #onlinenewsact #telecom

A modernist masterpiece, obliquely

Where's my ruler?
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


I’m strangely entranced by modern architecture, particularly when the building in question emerged from the mind of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

So when I found myself in the neighbourhood of the Toronto-Dominion Centre, I needed to wander on over for some quiet alone time with one of his last creations.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #building #tdcentre #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #downtown #geometry #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Glass cube in the sky, November 2024
Sky, scraped, November 2024

Monday, May 19, 2025

Green leaf on grey concrete

Still vibrant
London, ON
October 2017
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Be the one who sees the lost and the ignored.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #sidewalk #streetphotography #green #leaf #texture #stilllife #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:
Old dead leaf, December 2024
Wet, fallen leaf, October 2024
When leaves end, October 2021
Dirty old leaf, October 2020

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Fading light, returning life

Under a salmon-coloured sky
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


The light in this image took around 8 minutes and 20 seconds to cover the 150 million-ish kilometres between the Sun and our planet.

It then dove through our atmosphere, and thanks to some dramatic clouds and the low angle of the late evening, was transformed into all sorts of shades of pink, salmon, and purple.

Finally, it hit the tree branches we see here, and photon by photon drove the photosynthetic process that began to awaken the tiny buds from their winter slumber.

Life plays out all around us. All we have to do is look, perhaps with a bit of childlike wonder thrown in for good measure.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #optimistpark #sunset #orange #cloudspotting #naturephotography #landscapephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Two birds, one sky

Who's flapping?
London, ON
March 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


It’s avian haiku time, because why not? Here goes…

Never fly alone
If it applies to the birds
It applies to us

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #springbank #bird #ducks #unlimited #flight #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:
I've got your six, March 2025
Party of birds, September 2023

Friday, May 16, 2025

Pizza-themed hockey net

Practical and on-brand
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Warning:
today’s photo deals with incredibly trivial subject matter. Reader discretion is advised.


Once upon a time, take-out pizzas came with a ball of dough in the middle. While their practical purpose was to prevent the cardboard box from sagging into the hot cheese below, childhood Carmi always found all sorts of other ways to play with the doughy mass. Good times.

As spreadsheets and bean counters took over the land, someone - who history shall keep anonymous for their own protection - decided dough balls cut into pizza profitability. So along came tiny little plastic table-like things to prevent the dreaded cardboard cheese meltdown.

Somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, sea turtles cringed and orca whales cried. If the plastic-addicted nature of modern society has a signature, it’ll be found here, in the middle of a medium pie with olives.

Well, the other day, we opened a pizza box and were greeted by a hockey net-like thing. It’s playoff season, so I’ll give the pizza meisters credit for being culturally aware. We do, after all, take our sportsing very seriously in the Great White North.

But it’s still plastic. Sea turtles still cringe, orca whales still cry, and I still miss my dough balls. I know I’m not alone.

Wait, maybe none of this is as trivial as I initially thought.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #pizza #hockey #abstract #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone


Thursday, May 15, 2025

Marathon dog

When is this thing over?
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


On the sidelines of Toronto’s biggest road race, a single dog stands patiently beside her owner as the runners approach the finish line.

If I had to guess, she wasn’t terribly interested in the runners, and eventually turned her back on the course. Yet still she seemed to be smiling as I wandered past in search of a better vantage point.

I’d like to think that all dogs are happy. I know the real world often dictates otherwise, but still, it never hurts to hope.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #torontomarathon #dog #actofdog #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #frenchie #streetphotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Temporarily pink

Early spring beauty
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


They bloom fiercely for what seems like a blink before just as quickly disappearing into windblown piles in the gutter below.

Some may be saddened by the brevity of their brilliance.

Others will be heartened by the fact that we had them at all.

#toronto #ontario #canada #yyz #pink #flowers #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography

Related:

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Pick another direction

The original crossover
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Sometimes we’re on the right track.

Sometimes we need to change course.

#toronto #ontario #canada #trainspotting #steel #train #track #rail #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography


Monday, May 12, 2025

Pizza shop smartphone mystery

Orange you glad you're nosey?
London, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


The scene: Our son and I have come to pick up pizza for our rather informal Mother’s Day dinner, and while we’re waiting in line we notice this smartphone propped rather precariously on the pockmarked moulding while it charges.

It isn’t immediately clear who owns it, as there’s no one standing or sitting nearby. And all the other folks milling about the space already seem to be heads-down with phones of their own. So I’m guessing it’s either an electronic orphan, or someone has a surplus of trust in complete strangers.

This being a Hallmarkian holiday, the staff are slammed, and we’re in line for a while. I’m struck by the stark geometry of it all, and decide that once we have the pizza in hand it’ll be worth a quick photo before we head home.

Like everyone else in our little family, our son knows the deal, and waits with a smile while I shoot a single frame. Bless him, his sibings, and my wife who have defined patience for as long as we’ve been a family.

We’ll never know whose phone this is, or how it came to be here, which is perhaps as it should be. Because I’ve always loved a good mystery.

And good pizza.

With my favourite people.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #sherwood #forest #retail #pizza #orange #restaurant #abstract #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #iphone16 #shotoniphone

Related:
Forbidden pizza, October 2019
No pizza for you, February 2018
Date night, February 2018